Monday, September 24, 2012

Bose Corporation, headquartered in Framingham,
Massachusetts, was established in 1964 by Dr. Amar G. Bose, and is still
privately held. It specializes in audio equipment, including speakers,
noise-cancelling headphones, and automotive sound systems. The company’s About
Us page is here.

OVERALL GRADE: B

The main About Us page is
a clear presentation of the company’s products and aims, with an excellent use
of headings, teasers, images, and links. All of this information is efficiently
laid out to fit on one or two screens.

Products/Services: A+

The Bose About Us pages are all about the products, yet not an
outright sales pitch. Our
Philosophy states the company’s commitment to research and excellence in
sound systems. A
History of Bose gives a glimpse into the founder’s mind (he couldn’t find a
stereo that reproduced the quality of a live performance, so he decided to
build one) and a quick survey of Bose’s innovations. Milestones
gives details on Bose’s innovations over the years, wisely focusing not on
technical aspects or on the growth of the company, but on the benefits to
owners of Bose products.

This order (philosophy, history, milestones) is the one on
the main About Us page and on the left-hand menu of the subpages, so visitors
are guided to more and more detailed information – but could leave at any point
and still know the basics of Bose.

Personality: C

Little information is given about the people who run Bose. Normally
that would bother us, but the great content and clean layout suggest the sort
of efficiency and reliability that we appreciate in our electronic gizmos and
gadgets.

Accessibility: C

The Contact Us page is plain vanilla, but functional. For
the online email forms (here,
for example), we’d like the option of “other” rather than Bose’s choices. If
they’re going to send us a confirmation that they’ve received our query (with a
copy of what we said), we’d like to be told that up front.

TAKEAWAY

Bose gets top marks for keeping the focus of these pages on
Bose products and their benefits to owners, and for presenting the information
in an order that’s very well thought out.

Does your Web site’s “About Us” section
accurately convey your organization’s history and capabilities? Every two weeks
we evaluate one example, grading it in three areas that are key to potential
customers: Personality (Who are you?), Products/Services (What can you do for
us?), and Accessibility (How can we reach you?). Contact us if you’d like to
have your site evaluated—there’s no charge and no obligation.

Today’s example was chosen at random;
CorporateHistory.net has no ties to this company.

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